GSR Today - Today we're shining a spotlight on three African nations where new solutions are helping keep people nourished, from CRS's Rice Bowl results in Niger, to using church-land for farming in Kenya, to bishop-led policy changes in Malawi designed to keep arable land safe from the effects of climate change.
In Kenya’s biggest slum, women trained as local peacemakers keep a tense situation from degenerating into further violence. Since 1999, the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya’s Justice and Peace Commission has trained 340 women during a summer-long intensive seminar. They hail from across the country and gain tools for defusing small, local conflicts, like disputes over fences or resources. These 340 women returned to their communities in all 25 dioceses of Kenya and shared their knowledge by creating “peacemaking circles,” groups of women from the neighborhood whom they train to act as local mediators.
Dorothy Fernandes is a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and a social activist who has been working in Patna since 1997 with communities on the periphery, with the goal of making their cities inclusive, so that no one is left behind. She is also the National Convener of the Forum of Religious for Justice and Peace, a solidarity group of religious activists in India, and a member of the National Alliance of People's Movements.
by Christine Schenk
I spent four hours watching women share stories "for a creative exchange of ideas from a female perspective." There were some amazing narratives.
GSR Today - Italy’s news-making singing nun, Sr. Cristina Scuccia, went to Tokyo this week to promote her new album. While there she took questions from fans on a variety of topics, including one person’s bad habit of snacking on chips before bed. I kid you not. Read on.
by Christin Tomy
A few weeks ago I learned the word askesis, Greek for “practice” or “training.” Before the Christian ascetics got hold of the idea (askesis is the root word of asceticism), the Greeks used it to refer to athletes’ physical training. I was captured by this idea, and when I discussed it with a mentor, she suggested that I choose another part of my life in which I’ve developed good discipline and transfer some of those skills to my prayer life. The answer was clear: running.
Read interviews with Catholic sisters who participated in the 1965 civil rights marches in GSR's Sisters of Selma Q&A series.
by Gloria Wirba
Contributor
African religious women are invited to assume an important mission in the formation of a new African culture that does not call for a retrospective journey to traditional culture or its complete abandonment, but rather for a critical reading and assessment of the past, an objective analysis of the present and an optimistic projection into the future in the light of the Gospel as the message of life, love and hope.
Sr. Kenyuyfoon Gloria Wirba of Cameroon is a member of the Congregation of the Tertiary Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi — Cameroon Province. She holds a doctorate degree in missiology from Pontifical University of Rome; her graduate work there was in religious sciences (mission and world religions).
by Nancy Linenkugel
Contributor
See for Yourself - I’m working on a project and need a number of boxes. Beer cartons are perfect, and Angie works in the “Spirits Nook” at the grocery store where I shop. A key person is stockman John who’s in charge of the beer aisle. He saves the boxes for me, and Angie keeps them behind the counter.
